Grade School at Mulberry

Inspired most deeply through their feelings, grade school children respond powerfully to what is beautiful in the world, this feeling for beauty is cultivated by the tools and approaches used in their main lesson work.

The morning lesson begins with music and verse and then moves into a two-hour main lesson. Each main lesson block is an immersion in a particular academic subject including fine arts, science, mathematics, humanities, language arts, and languages. The block, lasting three or four weeks, is shaped and enlivened by the teacher through music, poetry, painting, drawing, movement and drama. This allows the whole child to become absorbed in the subject matter: head, heart and hands.This approach also allows for freshness and enthusiasm, and a concentrated, in-depth experience with each subject area as well as time for integration and reflection before the subjects are reviewed.

​When our students reach Grade One, they are given a plant. They water them and watch them grow. Just as these plants grow and change, so do the children.

The class teacher teaches the main academic subjects, coordinates with specialty teachers, and provides the link between home and school. The class teacher encourages mutual respect, love and understanding, and a deeper recognition of each childs individual needs, which helps each child develop to his or her potential.

​As a vital part of learning, the children create their own workbooks for each subject, recording and illustrating the substance of the teachers research and presentation. These books, often artistic and beautiful, are an important way in which art is integrated into every subject. These colourful, very individualized books reflect the progress of each student and are not only a record of what has been studied, but a method of inquiry, increasing the students’ capacities for creativity and for knowledge. They are a unique and vital part of Waldorf education.

Grade School Main Lesson

Fine Arts

Fine arts, including drama, painting, music, drawing and modeling are integrated into the entire academic curriculum, including mathematics and the sciences. The Waldorf method of utilizing arts throughout the curriculum awakens imagination and creative, flexible thinking, bringing vitality and wholeness to learning.

Science​Science is taught experientially. The teacher sets up an experiment, calls upon the students to observe carefully and discuss their findings so that they can understand the underlying scientific law or formula. Through this process, independent thinking and sound judgment develop. The sciences begin with Nature Studies in the early grades and then move to more challenging subjects such as zoology, botany, chemistry, astronomy and physiology.

Mathematics

In the lower grades mathematics are taught through movement, art, a lively imagination, mental math and practise. The use of concrete objects and much repetition lays a strong foundation for the work in upper grades. Form drawing transforms into geometry in Grade Six.

Humanities

The extraordinary humanities curriculum begins in Preschool and Kindergarten with Fairy Tales and stories from around the world. The Grade School children are taken through the full sweep of the worlds cultural heritage from early mythology and legends to The Old Testament, Norse Mythology, Aboriginal North American, Asian, Middle Eastern, African and Greek cultures. By experiencing these cultures through their legends and literature, the children gain flexibility and an appreciation for the diversity of humankind.

Language Arts

Literature and language arts are learned in the same way that they originated in the course of human history. Human beings first perceived the world, pictured it, spoke about it, and out of the sounds and pictures, abstracted written signs and symbols. In the Grade School, this process is accompanied by much phonetic work in songs, poems, and games that help to establish a joyful, living experience of the language. Special attention is given to oral memory, the enrichment of vocabulary and the development of fine motor skills. Children gradually learn to read what they have written in their lesson books. Grammar, spelling, poetry, creative writing, drama, research skills and well-chosen childrens literature provide a rich medium for the students development in language arts.

​Languages

French is formally taught beginning in Grade One, giving the children insights into other cultures. Language lessons are presented orally in the first three grades, using games, poems and songs. Reading, writing and grammar are introduced later in the grades and build upon the oral work.